cotter pins

[tyred]

I bent the cotter pins hammering them out of my Elswick-Hopper Cosmopolitan 🙁. Also worth stating that they should really be pressed in as well, rather than just tightening the nut to pull them in.

I think this is where people go wrong. If you only tighten the nut they will bend and come loose very quickly.

Pressed or hammered into position properly and they won't give any problems in service.

 

[Chris S]

Raleigh were still using them in the mid 80's on the 3 speeds

They're still used on South Asian bikes. I'd be extremely surprised if the Flying Pigeon didn't use them as well.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I remember bashing Cotterpins out as a kid. Nostalgia…

 

[Rusty Nails]

@roadrash You get a 'like' for simply mentioning them.

Cotter pins..... haven't thought of them in ages

I volunteer in a community bike workshop and we get loads of them in. Had one in yesterday, an old Dawes.

 

[Cycleops]

And another thing to remember is you need to let the tyres down first if youre hammering them out otherwise all your efforts will be dissipated.

 

[Twilkes]

In my morning's cotter pin research, RJ the Bike Guy propped a piece of wood between the ground and the underside of the crank, to absorb most of the impact and prevent it from being transferred too much into the bottom bracket and bearings.

 

[tyred]

In my morning's cotter pin research, RJ the Bike Guy propped a piece of wood between the ground and the underside of the crank, to absorb most of the impact and prevent it from being transferred too much into the bottom bracket and bearings.

That's what I usually do.

 

[tyred]

The other thing is that a lot of people don't use a hammer properly. If doing something like driving out a pin, you need to hold the hammer at the end of the shaft and hit it hard, deliberate blows. The shock will help free it.

If you just sit tip-tapping it you will be more likely to just rivet the thing in place.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Here's what the late Richard Ballantyne had to say on the subject. From "Richard's Bicycle Book"

 

[rrarider]

I was about to mention the same thing as @Dogtrousers , when his post appeared. I've done this to get the pins out of my Raleigh shopper, prior to servicing its BB. I then realised that Raleigh BB threads are peculiar to them. As it only ever goes 2 miles to the shops, I can live with a slight clicking noise.

 

[rogerzilla]

It's very difficult to brinell bearings by hammering. Mind you, only a sucker for punishment would refit a cottered setup

 

[Smokin Joe]

It's very difficult to brinell bearings by hammering. Mind you, only a sucker for punishment would refit a cottered setup

Horrible things, I wouldn't touch one.

 

[Twilkes]

It's very difficult to brinell bearings by hammering. Mind you, only a sucker for punishment would refit a cottered setup

what is a brinell

 

[Rusty Nails]

Horrible things, I wouldn't touch one.

They are a pain and luckily most people these days will never have to deal with them. I often work on very old bikes with cottered cranks and we try to keep them period correct if we can.
Hard work but very satisfying when finished. Occasionally we have to swap them for a square taper but only once have we had to resort to an angle grinder.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

Raleigh were still using them in the mid 80's on the 3 speeds

Later than that! My Chiltern, hub dated December 91 has them!